Mood Altering Foods

When I consume too much salt, sugar, caffeine, I feel guilty, irritable, and tired. This is behavior and consequences I try to avoid.

Most of the time I prefer feeling energized. When I need a mood lift, since alcohol and drugs is not the route for me, I know there are foods that will energize me: peppermint tea and protein rich foods (like egg, lentils or black beans).

For something more calming I eat handfuls of almonds, or a half of a banana, or a cup of chamomile or oat straw tea. Also I make sure I have the following on my grocery list: turkey, fish (especially with Omega 3 fat, Salmon, Tuna, etc.), avocado, and eggs. Besides the almonds already mentioned, I will definitely add walnuts or peanuts. Also include dark green leafy vegetables, dried dates, figs, oats and whole grains to my shopping cart. Although not on my list as a first choice because of my lactose intolerance: yogurt, milk, or cottage cheese also is calming.

Anything else that works? Let's start talking!

Layers of Nutrition

Well, I continue making discoveries about nutrition much like the layers of a purple onion. I am shopping for groceries very differently than in my youth. Earlier in life it just had to taste good and be affordable. Now, I want certain nutrition too. I may shop to prevent or help a particular health issue like increasing my fiber content. I may shop to incorporate more live foods with vitality and less processed or devitalized ones. Foods with more calcium. There are so many things to consider. A food choice may be a better buy because it is organic or is free range. Shopping without buying at all the stuff that is zero nutrition and probably harmful.

Also I prepare things very differently than my younger years. Then, I just wanted to re-create something that I loved. Now, I want to give a recipe an added nutritional boost either altering the ingredients or altering the preparation.

How about you? Let's start talking!

Eating Right 4 Your Type

Something I've learned is that the best diet for someone with one blood type will be different than the best diet for someone of another blood type. My husband is type O but I'm type A. He should be a meat-eater but he's a vegetarian for ethical reasons. I'm lactose-intolerant. All this creates some challenges for me when I try to plan meals.

There's a great series of books by Dr. Peter D'Adamo about eating correctly for your blood type. His main book is Eat Right For Your Type. Since my hubby and I are two different blood types, it really challenges our options for shopping, cooking and restaurant eating. D'Adamo rates hundreds of foods according to whether they are beneficial, neutral or harmful for each blood type.

By "beneficial" we mean:

1. The food does not cause a thickening (agglutination) of the blood for that blood type.
2. The food does not increase the bowel toxicity (Urinary Indican) in that blood type.
3. The food protects against some diseases for that blood type.
4. The slight differences in the digestive tract for a given blood type produce effective metabolism and absorption for the particular food.
5. The food contains an enzyme known to react positively with the antigen of that blood type.
6. The food does not stimulate an antibody reaction

A neutral food would have all the above except #3 and #5, so there's no particular benefit other than the basic nutrition.

If you have a family like mine that has multiple blood types, what do you buy?
One way to solve the problem is to memorize the foods that are beneficial for all blood types: beet greens, black walnuts, broccoli, cod, collard greens, essene bread (manna), green tea, kale, olive oil, parsley, parsnip, and plums (dark/green/ red). That's a pretty short list. Luckily, there are many more foods that are neutral (do not provoke some allergic reaction/sensitivity) for us. We'll put a list of the neutral foods on our AllisWell website.

The foods that are beneficial or neutral for all blood types are very economical. So what we've seen so far is that we need to choose foods that have the right amino acids, or proteins, and that we need to adjust our diets a bit so we maximize our absorption of nutrients without setting off allergic reactions. Next we'll talk about carbs and fats.

Lets start talking,

Dr. Sandy

Nutritionally Dense Foods

One thing I try to do when planning my family meals is to get enough really good protein. Foods that contain 100% of the essential amino acids are: egg whites, fish, milk, and spinach. That's not a very long list but there are foods that are almost as good--foods that have high amounts of almost all the essential amino acids--chicken, soy, rice, lentils, wheat bread, mung beans, collards, corn, and peanuts.

Now I've got enough different sources of protein that I can make some interesting meals. You notice that I've left out beef and pork. These may have good protein but there's too many other health reasons not to eat them. Maybe we'll talk about them some other time if you're interested.

Notice that the foods that contain the most essential amino acids are very economical, are mostly foods that we enjoy, are satisfying, and are within our budget. Bravo!

Lets start talking,

Dr. Sandy

Introduction

I'm Dr. Sandy Frazer. I have a doctorate in Naturopathy. I started this blog because I love to talk about healthy living. I'm trying to feed my family in such a way that we minimize the cost but maximize the nutrition. I suspect you're trying to do the same.

I'm hoping to encourage a community of people who can share healthy living tips---spiritual, emotional, and physical. I can't afford medical insurance so I am trying to stay as healthy as possible. I want to be proactive so I'll be writing about prevention mostly. I'm sure I could have had a better health history if I'd known in my twenties what I know now. Maybe you can share your healthy living with me.

Lets start talking,


Dr. Sandy